Popular Fitness Site Endures A Customer Information Breach

Do you frequent the website bodybuilding.com?

If so, be advised that the site has been breached.

According to a recent statement by the company behind the site, the breach occurred in February, 2019 and had its origins in a phishing email the company received back in July of 2018.

A detailed account of the incident was published on the company's help center and contained most of the elements we've come to expect when things like this happen:

• The company is very sorry that it happened
• "Certain" customer/member information may have been compromised
• The company has been working with law enforcement and has brought in a third party to assist with the forensic investigation, which is ongoing

The company also stressed that while partial payment account numbers were compromised, no full debit or credit card information was at risk. That is because the site only stores the last four digits of payment cards if and when a given user opted to have the data stored by the website.

Again in keeping with the common response to incidents like these, Bodybuilding.com reported that in exercising an abundance of caution, they are force-resetting all user passwords.  If it's been a while since you've logged on, just be aware that the next time you do, you'll be prompted to change your password.

As to the specific data that was compromised, according to the latest information posted by the company, the following information was accessed by unknown third parties:

• User name
• The email address you used to sign up for the service
• Your billing and/or shipping address
• Your phone number
• Your order history
• Your birthday
• Any correspondence that may have occurred between you and the site administrators
• Any other information you included in your profile

As ever, if you're using the same password on this site that you use on some other, be sure to change both immediately. Try hard to break the habit of using the same password across multiple web properties.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. for more information on how to secure your passwords and other personal or company information. 

 

SpartanTec, Inc. Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 408-7166 http://manageditservicescolumbia.com/

cities served:
Columbia, West Columbia, Cayce, St Andrews, Lexington, Oak Grove

Hackers Target Larger Companies For Bigger Payday

If you’re running a large company that has an entire workforce of computers, there’s something that you need to know. Hackers that run ransomwares are targeting bigger companies with the goal of getting a bigger payday. The GrandCrab ransomware strain, which became a potential threat last year, is something that business owners alike should look into. As a precaution, companies must have managed IT services working in the background to protect themselves against ransomware attacks.

Since last year, the developers of the said ransomware strain continued to improve the code, pushing the latest iteration, GrandCrab 5.2. The latest version of the ransomware was discovered earlier this year. Crowdstrike researchers have been looking into how the group behind the malicious software operate as well as dissecting the inner works of the ransomware.

According to research findings, the creators of GrandCrab work with other hackers through an affiliate scheme. GrandCrab operators launch the software on behalf of other hackers then split the profit for any successful attacks. The developers of the ransomware have also been advertising their scheme onto the Dark Web in attempts to lure in more hackers. In addition to boosting their efforts, they have also been focusing more on higher value targets and ignoring smaller businesses. With this threat in mind, computer security should be on the top of the list for businesses.

In a rather simplified explanation, the hackers’ primary objective is to get inside a corporate network. Once inside the network, the hackers don’t attack just yet. They wait until they find out just how many computers they can take hold. The goal now is to maximize the breach by infecting as many computers as possible in one go. This then results into a massive data encryption, most likely affecting all computers in the network.

Ransomware developers have grown quite sophisticated over the years, pushing more dangerous software. This highlights the urgency for businesses to have managed IT services Columbia in order to protect against malicious attacks and preserve company data.

Don’t leave your company vulnerable against hackers. Call SpartanTec, Inc. today.

 

SpartanTec, Inc. Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 408-7166 http://manageditservicescolumbia.com/

cities served:
Columbia, West Columbia, Cayce, St Andrews, Lexington, Oak Grove

Nvidia Releases Driver Update To Patch Security Issues

A lot of people all over the world use Nvidia graphics cards due to its popularity in terms of performance. Recently, the company released its first security patch for this year. For users of certain models, the update is an important one as it addresses eight security flaws that could leave users vulnerable against attacks. It is a lot easier to have managed IT services do the updates if you run a business and use Nvidia video cards.

Although the security issues the patch addresses aren’t rated critical, they are still rated high priority. This means Nvidia users should not forgo this update. The patch will protect systems from attacks such as remote code execution, denial of service, and escalation of privileges.

In line with such attacks, it is critical that businesses hire managed IT services Columbia to ensure that computer systems are always up to date with the latest security patches. The patch will be applicable for Nvidia’s GeForce, Quadro, Tesla and NVS graphics cards. Newer graphics cards aren’t included on the list due to their more advanced architecture. Older units, however, need the update to keep the computer system they are installed in safe.

There are different ways on how to install the update depending on the type of system you’re running. The update could be found on Nvidia’s site directly. For Windows users, the update could be done through the control panel. Users may also install the GeForce Experience app which would alert the user of any updates for the installed video card.

Regardless of the severity of the security flaws, patches must be installed immediately the moment they are released. It is one way of protecting the computer system as well as reinforcing the information security protocols in the system.

If your business needs IT services, go to the experts. Call SpartanTec, Inc. today.

SpartanTec, Inc. Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 408-7166 http://manageditservicescolumbia.com/

cities served:
Columbia, West Columbia, Cayce, St Andrews, Lexington, Oak Grove